The Beginning
by Gigglechris2
Summary: My first FanFiction. The story of how Mark met Lyn, and the events leading up to that. R&R please, because this is my first story, I would like some feedback. Praise and constructive criticism welcomed, please no flames.


**A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for clicking on my story. This story is about the events right before Mark (the tactician in Fire Emblem Blazing Sword (FE7)) meets Lyn; basically, it's about how Mark met Lyn. This is my first story, so I would appreciate it if you would review after reading. Praise and constructive criticism are welcome, but please, no flaming. I apologize in advance for any incorrect spellings or descriptions of characters, as this is mostly on memory. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story! (By the way, the story is in Mark's point of view, and the story is told in past-tense because Mark is telling the story after the events of FE7.)**

I was traveling with a merchant caravan. It was so peaceful… never would I have imagined that in less than a year's time I would be saving the world. As always, I was wearing my signature green cloak, but this time with a sword belted to my hip, yes, I looked quite the romantic young adventurer. The sword was mainly just for show however, as I hadn't the slightest idea how to use it. Even so, it doesn't hurt to have a weapon, as it can sometimes scare away a would-be adversary; just by being there.

I was an apprentice tactician, and only 16 years old. My parents had sent me off to an exclusive (and very expensive) tactics school when I was 5; after I had shown a talent for tactics by helping our village fight off a group of bandits that were attacking by shouting orders to the village "militiamen." You may think it funny to imagine a small 5 year old child yelling orders on tactics to fully grown armed adult "soldiers," but it's all true.

The reason I was traveling with the merchant caravan was because my teacher wanted me to get out some and explore the world, have a little "adventure." Little did he know, I'd be getting the greatest adventure any man could ever have… The caravan was planned to go to Bern, (passing through Sacae on the way); a seemingly perfect destination to learn about military fighting and tactics.

Anyways, back to the story. While I was with the caravan I mainly stayed to myself. I went through battle scenarios in my mind, keeping my tactics lessons sharp in my brain… just in case. One day, however, everything went downhill. I had decided to take a nap. The second I let my guard down, as if on cue, I heard shouting, and a second later; the clash of steel on steel. We were under attack.

Rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, I jumped out of the wagon I was in. A large group of bandits; say… about 40; were trying to raid the caravan. We only had about 10 trained fighters, and about 20 untrained, armed men. Even I knew that our only hope to survive would be if St. Elimine herself came and blasted the bandits to limbo, hell, and back. Even so, I immediately started yelling commands, (as was my job, I was the "appointed tactician" of the caravan, even though merchant caravans like this generally wouldn't need one). Things like, "Use your swords for an advantage against their axes!" and, "Use and cover you can to help dodge attacks!" were coming out of my mouth. The men fought bravely, but in the end, the fight was futile. So, I gathered all the people who couldn't fight and fled. We ran as far as we could, but it wasn't far enough. That night, the bandits caught up with us and struck again.

I had no choice but to run away. I ran and ran and ran, until I fainted from exhaustion. I never saw any of the people from the caravan again. Three days later, I woke up.

When I opened my eyes, instead of seeing sky and feeling aches and pains all over my body like I expected, I saw the ceiling of some sort of hut. I sat up and looked around. I was inside a makeshift Sacaen hut, and over on the other side of the room I saw a girl my age looking out the window.

She has olive green hair, brown eyes that carried a touch of sadness, and a soft but sensitive and caring looking face. She was about five-and-a-half feet tall, with a lean figure with gentle womanly curves, and the cloths of a Sacaen nomad. As I was examining her, I realized that my sword was missing; I must have lost it during my flight from the bandits.

Noticing that I was awake, she turned around and walked towards me saying, "Hey you're awake! Are you O.K.?" I examined her again, looking for any sign of hostility or ill-intent. Finding none, I tentatively said, "I think so…" She left for a minute, then came back with a glass of water, and offering it to me, she said, "My name's Lyn, I found you blacked out on the ground close to here about two to three days ago; I'm glad you're O.K., this is my home." I replied, "Thanks" and took the water. A few moments later, I said, "Thanks for helping me, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found me, my name is Mark."

As if the world itself had been listening; waiting for the right time to screw everything up, we hear a commotion from outside. Two bandits were attacking a nearby hut belonging to another nomad. We stood up, Lyn drawing a sword from a sheath on her hip; we went out to stop the bandits. I told Lyn that I was an apprentice tactician, and together we defeated the bandits.

It seems impossible that it went from stopping bandits to saving the world, but yes, it's all true.

**A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Like I said before, this is my first fanfic, so read and review. Praise and constructive criticism welcomed, but please, no flaming.**


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